Letter: 'Let's Bring Danbury To Life With The ARP Funds'

"Let's Bring Danbury To Life With The ARP Funds"

by Roberto Alves, Democratic candidate for Mayor of Danbury

Danbury’s next Mayor will shape our city for generations, and to be clear, we need someone who represents the values of our community. These values are simple: Danbury’s residents want their children to receive a good education, and access to quality healthcare. We want to be compensated fairly for hard work, and we want to make sure our seniors are taken care of and respected.

Our values and priorities should be reflected in how we budget and spend taxpayers’ money. So, when we’re discussing the $32 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds Danbury is receiving, we need to use this money thoughtfully and strategically in order to make the most positive, long-term impact on our community, using our values to guide decision-making.

This once-in-a-lifetime stimulus is designed to help everyone in Danbury from small businesses, to the arts, students, parents, workers, and our first responders. These funds are also intended to make critical infrastructure improvements and community investments, to assist with our response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, and to invest in our students. And we only have until 2024 to get it done.

This is more than a lifeline for Danbury — it’s a chance to make many of the improvements, investments, and changes we have so desperately needed and called for, many times before. This is an opportunity we can’t risk squandering.

If we plan wisely, we can address the space and overcrowding issues in our schools, enrich academic environments with updated accessible technology, ensure school building safety and health, strengthen community-school-family partnerships to support students, and make sure that Danbury’s educational system is equitable for everyone.

We can also use this relief money to support working families by investing in childcare programs that people can actually afford and expanding after school and summer programs. We can bring our local economy to life using ARP funds to help small businesses through pilot programs, non-repayable loans, and neighborhood revitalization grants. And using ARP funds to assist businesses around our community will result in sustainable, higher paying jobs — the potential is there for us to build a stronger, healthier Danbury.

But above all, this requires that local leaders build a relationship of transparency and trust between City Hall and our entire community. Danbury residents should be able to follow the
money and see where and how, in real-time, the city is spending ARP funds.

All of this said, nothing is more expensive than missed opportunities.

We’ve seen what inaction looks like in Danbury, and it’s not okay. Our community is at a tipping point. There’s long overdue work that needs to be done. My personal mission is working to improve the lives of every resident of Danbury, and I’m committed to seeing that through as Mayor. We’ve been given an opportunity to invest in Danbury and build a stronger, more equitable future for our entire community. The stakes couldn’t be higher. We must act decisively, strategically, and in line with our values.

Roberto Alves, Democratic candidate for Mayor of Danbury